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Speaker 1: But we know that a federal election is indeed looming.

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Speaker 2: We don't know exactly what date that federal election is happening,

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Speaker 2: but you'd have to say that the Australian Electoral Commission

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Speaker 2: making sure that they're doing everything to ensure they're organized

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Speaker 2: whatever date that happens.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me in the.

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Speaker 2: Studio right now is Jeff Bloom, the Australian Electoral Officer

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Speaker 2: for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Jeff, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you in the studio. Jef.

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Speaker 2: I would imagine that there's a lot of work that

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Speaker 2: has to get underway for you guys to make sure

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Speaker 2: that you're all organized when that federal election date is declared.

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Speaker 3: Very busy, a very complex election coming up in these

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Speaker 3: COVID times. We've got a great team back in the

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Speaker 3: office here and Owen, I think we've got nearly thirty

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Speaker 3: people on the floor right now planning many projects as

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Speaker 3: part of the election delivery itself, including services to urban

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Speaker 3: areas and also to remote communities as well. So everyone's

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Speaker 3: working extremely hard and we'll be ready when they're and

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Speaker 3: the elections announced.

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Speaker 2: Now, how many people are on the electoral role in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: The enrollment rate at the moment of the territory sitting

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Speaker 3: around eighty six percent, which is as high as it's

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Speaker 3: been and that's around about two and a half percent

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Speaker 3: increase on the twenty nineteen enrollment rates. So we're moving forward.

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Speaker 3: It is slow and there's still many people are not

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Speaker 3: on the role, so we'd encourage people.

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Speaker 1: To get enrolled.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is such a timely reminded to make sure

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Speaker 2: that you do get on the electoral role. Make sure

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Speaker 2: you vote. I know that sometimes people, you know, go, oh,

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Speaker 2: why should I vote? Does my vote really matter? But

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Speaker 2: in a place like the Northern Territory, it absolutely matters.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes we have situations where you know, a seat is

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Speaker 2: one or lost by under twenty votes.

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Speaker 3: Look, that's true, and it is important that people do

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Speaker 3: cast their vote. A close seat is what we call that.

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Speaker 3: Anything under one hundred votes we call a close seat.

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Speaker 3: And we don't know, we haven't had a close seat

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Speaker 3: in recent elections, but we could absolutely have one this

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Speaker 3: time around. So it's important that everyone gets out there

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Speaker 3: and castly vote for this event.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Now, in terms of the voter turnout in twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 2: did we get a high voter turnout.

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Speaker 3: Across the territory around seventy eight percent, so it's not

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Speaker 3: as hoigh as we would have liked. A little bit

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Speaker 3: higher in the Division of Solomon so that's Darwin and Palmerston,

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Speaker 3: and a little bit lower in the Division of Lingi

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Speaker 3: area which includes many of those remote communities seventy eight percent.

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Speaker 3: We'd be hoping for a higher turnout. We always do

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Speaker 3: and we do everything we can to make sure people

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Speaker 3: understand how they can vote, the different voting options and

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Speaker 3: then turn up to vote during that period.

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Speaker 2: And it's incredibly important as well in our remote communities

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Speaker 2: that people that live remotely turn up to vote as well.

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Speaker 2: I know that things are certainly a little bit more

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Speaker 2: difficult at the moment with COVID about and even this

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Speaker 2: morning we know that the federal government has declared a

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Speaker 2: biosecurity zone across the Northern Territory or the Northern, Central

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Speaker 2: and Teewee Land councils. How do things like this impact

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Speaker 2: the Australian Electoral Commission when it comes to, you know,

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Speaker 2: planning for an election of making sure that people do vote.

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Speaker 3: It is difficult, there's no doubt about it. But We've

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Speaker 3: been working on this for many months now, understanding that

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Speaker 3: the lockouts and now I think we've got lock ins occurring,

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Speaker 3: they all seem to be a little bit different. But

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Speaker 3: for us, the bottom line is that the face to

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Speaker 3: face service that we normally deliver remote area mobile pilling

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Speaker 3: right across the Northern Territory, it will be difficult for

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Speaker 3: the election that's held from the short term in March

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Speaker 3: or in May, it'll be extremely difficult.

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Speaker 1: So we've got a couple.

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Speaker 3: Of delivery models. So we've got a backup model if

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Speaker 3: you like, to the face to face service, and depending

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Speaker 3: on which communities we can access and the ones we can't,

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Speaker 3: we can have a bit of a mixed approach to that.

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Speaker 3: A lot of planning, a lot of effort gone into that,

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Speaker 3: and that'll continue.

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Speaker 2: So what is the backup model? We are we looking

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Speaker 2: to do things online or is are we not there?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 3: No, not. We know we're not online at the stage,

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Speaker 3: they're still a way off, but that the backup model

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Speaker 3: involves hiring community people who are in situ and can

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Speaker 3: deliver the service. So if we're not able to put

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Speaker 3: a team in there, we'll have someone in the community

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Speaker 3: itself and we will deliver materials to the edge of

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Speaker 3: the community effectively, and then that our person or people

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Speaker 3: in community will take charge of those and deliver a service.

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Speaker 3: It's effectively what we call a declaration vote model, where

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Speaker 3: people will place their ballot papers in a declaration envelope

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Speaker 3: and we'll bring them back to the office and process.

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Speaker 2: And is there some additional work happening for those remote

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Speaker 2: communities to ensure that there is high vot to turn

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Speaker 2: out as well.

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Speaker 3: The communications is always challenging, but we have a number

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Speaker 3: of communication channels that we use. We've got a number

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Speaker 3: of new partnerships that we're forming now through what got

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Speaker 3: our Indigenous Electoral Participation program. We've got Somemous in place.

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Speaker 3: We've got people that are going to send those communication

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Speaker 3: messages through the communities. We use social media like we

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Speaker 3: haven't done in previous events, Facebook for example. So lots

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Speaker 3: of opportunities there for us, and we're working very hard

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Speaker 3: on those messages now.

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Speaker 2: Before I let you go on, the question that some

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Speaker 2: people will be wondering is if they don't vote, are

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Speaker 2: they going to get fined?

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Speaker 3: Well, voting is compulsory, so it's compulsory to be on

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Speaker 3: the roll and to vote. So we just encourage people

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Speaker 3: to get out there and vote and take the opportunity

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Speaker 3: to either postal vote, early vote or voting on the day.

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Speaker 2: Well, Jeff Bloom, the Australian electoral officer for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 2: for coming in. And I think that it's really important

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Speaker 2: that everybody out there listening knows that obviously a federal

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Speaker 2: election is looming. We've got to make sure that we're

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Speaker 2: on the electoral roll and make sure that we do

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Speaker 2: well cast our democratic right and get out there and vote.

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Speaker 3: That's the one. Please enroll and vote when the opportunity arises.

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Speaker 1: Good on you, Jeff, Thanks so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks very much,